Back in the old days - say, two or three years ago - advertising
agencies all operated in much the same way. Copywriters pecked on
typewriters; writing, sharpening their aim at file 13 and rewriting.
Graphic designers hovered over drawing tables; juggling T squares,
triangles and rubber cement. After the creative team churned out the
proposed ad, the client said yea or nay. If the client wanted some
modifications, however, the whole process had to begin anew.

Fast forward to the present, and the casual observer may mistake an
ad agency for a computer room at a bank. While the dawn of the computer
age is yesterday's news, it may be suprising that advertising
agencies and design firms are embracing computers for creating
everything from the basic written word to complex graphics. And if
they're using computers for design, it's almost a sure bet
that they're using Macintoshes from Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple
Computer, Inc.

Long touted as being user-friendly, "Macs" lead the
computer pack for design purposes because they got a clean start out of
the gate. "Apple marketed themselves better to that industry than
IBM did," explains Rick Laney, manager at Heath Zenith Computers
& Electronics in Indianapolis, a retailer of Macs and International
Business Machines Corp. compatibles.

By trimming production time, Macintoshes allow more time for both
creativity and revenue-producing activities, says Apple Computer's
Patty Tulloch.

So - what exactly are ad agencies doing with these computers?

Often, agencies use a computer with a desktop publishing program to
publish newsletters for clients. Copywriters write the stories and photo
editors select pictures. When copy is corrected and photos are scanned,
an art director lays out the pages on the screen, including graphic
elements such as charts and borders. Then, the newsletter, which
hasn't yet touched paper at this point, goes directly to the
prepress house on diskette, avoiding typesetting and pasteup.

Most agencies are using computers not only because they simplify
the process of integrating words and images but also, for most types of
firms, because computers save money. A system that organizes art
direction, word processing and bookkeeping should help an agency be more
cost-efficient. "It (our system) saves us time. It's a nice
working tool," says Harold Griese, manager of production services
at Evansville's Keller-Crescent Co., the state's largest
advertising-public relations agency and printing company.

Many agencies entered the computer age from the financial end,
working quickly to word processing and finally to art direction.
"We computerized our accounting eight years ago," says Michele
Morgan, an account supervisor with The Juhl Agency, an advertising and
public relations firm based in Mishawaka. "We then started doing a
lot of word processing, then added computerized typesetting."

Both Juhl and Keller-Crescent are equipped with Macintosh hardware.
Juhl started with IBMs and is converting to Macs. "The IBM learning
curve is too sharp," Morgan explains.

An example of the time and money saved comes from the Indianapolis
office of Mark Anderson Associates, Inc. For the past few years, the agency has produced product catalogs for Belden Wire and Cable in
Richmond. Until last year when it was entered onto a computer file, the
400-page catalog had to be retyped entirely, even though yearly
revisions were minimal. Belden and Anderson invested in the one-time
extra expense of typing the catalog into a Macintosh.

That investment, according to Anderson Project Coordinator Kim
Symmes, has already paid off. This year's revisions were not only
easier but they were also cheaper. According to Symmes' estimates,
the old method of retyping each page cost the client approximately $150
per page. Now, she says, revisions cost a third of that: $50 per page.

Scott Montgomery, art director at Young & Laramore in
Indianapolis, feels so passionately about Macintoshes that two years ago
when he started work at the firm, he offered to buy it a Macintosh. Now,
the agency has several computers for its copywriters and artists.
"We use it as a way to work out ideas, as a design tool in the same
way that a pencil is a design tool," says Montgomery. "I
don't know if I'd know how to do a logo the traditional way
anymore."

Macintoshes are frequently a link between ad agencies and their
corporate clients. Sometimes, for example, clients bring the text of
their annual reports to Young & Laramore on diskettes, says
Montgomery.

The use of computers by agencies also allows clients more control
over the finished product. Agencies using computers typically show
"proof" copies of the ads or newsletters to clients before
finalizing the design and sending it to press.

But not all ad agencies are hooked into the high-tech world of
computer design. For some agencies, computers may not be cost-effective,
depending on the volume and type of work they do. Caldwell VanRiper in
Fort Wayne is an example of an established, well-respected agency that
has opted not to join the techno-designer ranks. Copywriters and
clerical workers at CVR use word processors but after running a
cost-benefit analysis, the question of investing in Macintoshes for
designers was given the thumbs down.

"We looked into it very seriously and came within a day of
buying it," says Lynn Clough, corporate business manager for CVR in
Fort Wayne. "We can't really see a long-term gain by getting a
Macintosh in here."

Clough doesn't rule out the computer option, though. "It
depends on the volume of business, as far as I'm concerned, and the
type of business," she says. "We've definitely kept our
cost analyses on file."

Now, corporations with in-house marketing and design segments are
recognizing the same virtues that make computers so attractive to many
advertising agencies and design firms. "Seventy-five percent of all
Mac sales are going into ad agencies, design firms and printers,"
says Heath Zenith's Laney. "The other 25 percent are corporate
America."

Thomson Consumer Electronics is one of those corporate clients that
Laney has fixed up with a Macintosh system. Paul Taroli, a member of
Thomson's human resource development staff, was the company's
first Macintosh designer two years ago. On the Mac, Taroli produces
company brochures, training manuals, forms, fliers, invitations and
anything else that is tossed his way. "We really do find a lot of
use for them," he says.

John Smith, director of marketing for Plymouth-based Aker Plastics,
says that his work load at the bathtub-manufacturing company was
becoming so great, something had to be done. Convincing his company to
purchase a computer was fairly easy. "It was either hire people or
get a computer," explains Smith.

Smith has had only about six months to get accustomed to his
company's new Macintosh design system. "Being a novice on it,
I went through the intimidation factor," he says. "That lasted
about a month."

Now, though, Smith is counting the benefits. Jobs that used to take
him three weeks to produce the old, manual way, now take him four days.
The computer also helps him juggle more projects simultaneously. "I
can effectively work on six different projects now," he continues.

In-house marketing departments in companies as diverse as a South
Bend grocery chain and a Batesville "pre-need" funeral
arrangement service are saving time and money with design computers. The
merchandising department of South Bend's Martin Supermarkets has
been using Macintoshes for just the past two months, according to Dawn
Kuhn, an advertising assistant with the company. Designers in the
merchandising department produce weekly coupon sheets, brochures and
fliers, which are then printed by the company's in-house printer.

Though the nature of the business is very different, the use of
computers in the marketing department at Batesville's Forethought Group is much the same as at Martin's. Graphic designers at
Forethought, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries, Inc.,
produce company brochures, announcements, invitations and a newsletter
that is distributed to funeral directors nationwide, says Sally
Chamliss, a communications specialist at Forethought.

Prepress service bureaus exist to produce the final version of
Mac-produced text and artwork. Tango in Indianapolis is one such
prepress company that is able to run typesetting services from Macintosh
files for projects as simple as a single-page brochure to as complex as
a weekly 80-page newspaper. The company works with publications such as
the Indianapolis Business Journal, Indianapolis Weekly Update and
Indiana Business magazine, all of which first design their publications
on Macintoshes.

Tango blends the high-tech wonders of the Macintosh with
traditional film assembly. Partners Richard Uphus and Rick Spilly say
that Macintoshes work especially well for publications. "As soon as
it leaves the office on disk, everyone can be reasonably certain what
it's going to look like," says Uphus.

NUVO News, a new weekly general-interest newspaper in Indianapolis,
also uses Macintoshes for all its design and word processing needs. For
Editor-In-Chief Ronald Tierney, the decision to set up the newspaper on
Macintoshes was an easy one. "I knew how friendly it was," he
explains. Macs let artists and writers remain what they are, he says. It
doesn't necessitate that they become computer whizzes. "I
wanted them to stay artists and writers."

Of course, the Mac design revolution has not ended. One of the
latest systems that interfaces with Macintosh hardware allows for
computer manipulation of photos, which can save clients money and time.
Juhl's Morgan says equipment manufactured by Scitex Corporation of
Bedford, Mass., works wonders with photos that agencies might otherwise
be forced to reshoot. "We've done some really neat things, and
totally changed how a photograph has looked," she says.
Keller-Crescent has its own Scitex system, as do Magna Graphic and
Ropkey Graphics in Indianapolis.

GRI Graphic Communications in Elkhart uses a similar, competing
system: the Crosfield 835 Studio system. The Elkhart company has had its
system in place for the past year, according to Brock Rose, GRI's
administrative coordinator. The system, says Rose, is ideal for brochure
work, which is the bulk of GRI's business. An eight-page brochure,
he estimates, can be done in just a couple of hours. Clients, most of
whom are from the recreational-vehicle or musical-instrument industries,
can then see full-color proofs of their brochures before they are made
into negatives and printed. This drastically cuts down on errors.

Ned Klotz, general manager of Indianapolis' Magna Graphic,
points out that the Scitex system allows advertising agencies and
corporate clients to design layouts on their own systems and bring in
the disks. Then, it's time for magic.

Klotz cites an example of a client that is a national seafood
restaurant chain. As part of an advertising campaign, the chain had
produced a poster of eight children. After Magna Graphic ran the color
proof, the restaurant chain personnel decided that in order to represent
the diversity of its customers better, some of the children should be
black, Hispanic and Asian. No need for another expensive photo shoot; by
using its Scitex Visionary computer, Magna was able to enhance some of
the features of the kids and convincingly change their appearances.

Most of Ropkey's clients are advertising agencies that are
putting to good use its high-end prepress system. The Scitex's
strength lies in its ability to skip the traditional, time-consuming
interim steps in creating negatives for these clients, notes Deborah
Linett, technical director at Ropkey. "That's a very slow
process," she says of traditional prepress. Today, she adds,
customers are demanding finished products in one day.

PHOTO : Putting the finishing touches on this month's cover of
Indiana Business: The Mac saves typesetting and pasteup charges.

PHOTO : GNP Products in Ligonier, a manufacturer of marching band accessories, wanted to highlight its products in its brochure. GRI
Graphic Communications in Elkhart produced the "phantom"
models with the help of the Macintosh computer and Crosfield system.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Curtis Magazine Group, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.